Youssef Nouhi

Professor Nouhi is an amazing Arabic professor! He's the sweetest man ever and he genuinely just wants to help you learn and he does so in a way that caters to the learning styles and interests of the students. Although its four days a week, class genuinely goes by so fast and never feels like a burden. Because it's a small class and you meet so often, everyone becomes really close and it makes the learning process so much better. Professor Nouhi is truly passionate about what he does and it definitely shows.

Professor Nouhi is the sweetest man I know. He is so understanding and he genuinely cares about his students. He is incredibly smart and knows SO much about Arabic and linguistics. He also knows four languages!! He's amazing. Don't even be concerned about your grade— he just wants his students to learn and to try their best. He does whatever he can to make the class easier for you, and he's so helpful in office hours. He is super energetic and enthusiastic every single day, even at 8:50 in the morning. Arabic is a super hard language, but he makes it less daunting and more manageable. I learned so much and grew so much in his class, and I only wish I could take Third-Year Arabic with him. I cannot recommend him enough.

I have no complaints about his teaching. His number one goal is to make sure you learn. He will try to make life as easy for his students as possible without going easy on us. Before the final, he reviewed with us for three hours, taking time out of his day off. He also made us study guides that other teachers did not make. He goes above and beyond everyday.

I learned intermediate-advanced level arabic.

I learned a lot of grammar (including sentence structure, conjugations, and gender/number agreement) as well as vocab. We also had many informal discussions about culture.

Improved reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills!

Do not take this class if you are looking for a light workload or a very easy language class. However, if you have an interest in the language to any degree and are willing to put the work in, ABSOLUTELY take it. It is such an amazing class, and, with Professor Nouhi, is a delight to go to every day. I can't recommend taking First- Year Arabic I with Nouhi enough. You will instantly feel great about the class by the end of the first day. As far as practicalities go, there is daily homework mainly from the textbook; this can be a really tedious pain if you don't keep up with and sometimes these can take a long, long time (but not always). Actual class time is relatively relaxed and easy, and, the more you are present and participate, the easier time you will have on quizzes (trust me, it is easy to zone out, but try to fight that). The quizzes are all a little bit different. The first two focus on the alphabet and basic words. After that, the quizzes are a mix of grammar, vocabulary, fill-in-the- blank, matching, listening, and short compositions. However, don't be fooled; VOCAB IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO LEARN IN THIS CLASS. I made the mistake of prioritizing grammar over vocabulary for a few of the quizzes, and it did not work out. Due to the difficulty of Arabic grammar, speaking, and listening, the only thing this class can really thoroughly test you on is vocabulary. M…

I furthered my use and grasp of the Arabic language.

This man is an angel. He is so intelligent, and knows so much about linguistics and Arabic and history--it's truly impressive. Asides from that, he's so sweet and really cares about his students.

A most caring, fair, brilliant professor. Professor Nouhi speaks several languages, and if he cannot make Arabic make sense in English, he'll use other languages to make his point - particularly helpful if you speak French (i.e. pronounciation tricks). He works hard, and manages to teach you beyond the syllabus without you realizing it. I have had few professor as stellar as Professor Nouhi, cannot believe there are not dozens of written reviews for him, and could not more highly recommend him (particularly after having other Arabic so-called instructors in the MEALAC department). When all is said and done, you will be pronouncing your Arabic properly, writing well and feel comfortable walking in to his class. Bottom line: he cares.